Homesick

I haven't posted here in a long time. Well, a lot has been happening and then you could also say that nothing has really happened :) Anyways, I have been missing my parents far more than I've ever done before. Mostly, I've been thinking about a few random events etched in my brain.

I remember my mom taking me to a gift shop almost 20 odd years ago. We bought a board game, and she negotiated a discount of Rs 8 because the outer box was sort of messed up. My usually dumb and inactive brain didn't really understand this deal and I switched the box with a brand new one when no one else was watching. We came back home, she just rolled her eyes and called the shop to tell them that she would come later and pay. What I liked about this whole thing was that she didn't really get mad at me, thinking about which makes me want to go back in time and get that ragged piece. I'd be totally fine with it, I would.

It was 1984 and I was in Bhopal, standing on a big wooden chair staring at my nose in the mirror. I had recently scratched my nose when I * (*information cannot be located in the brain). However, I got too engrossed looking at those red lines and might have thrown some monkey antics in the mix which made me lose my balance. Split wide open. My chin needed some stitches now, to go back to where it originally was. I remember being wedged between my uncle and dad on a light-green Bajaj 150 when we headed to the doctor. At the hospital, it was almost like I was not given any anesthesia as the pain is still crystal clear in my mind. However, now when I think about this whole adventure, I just remember traveling with my dad in city buses during those sunny days, my chin all dressed up in white gauze. He took me to the doctor every other day to have the dressing changed and answered all my questions very patiently. I was worried that the hanging threads from my chin were here to stay. He assured me that they would just rot away and I would be fine. And yes, rot away they did.

This story came up when I recently shaved my 'goatie' after a long time and people started asking questions about my stitch scars. Thinking about it, I never got any "time-out" from school as we were already into summer holidays. Aint that a B!